Many people helped develop quality management, and some of the early ones are called the ‘quality gurus.’ Perhaps Edwards Deming was one of the best known. He did a lot to publicize TQM. But was concerned that organizations did not get the benefits they expected. To help them on the way, he compiled a list of guidelines called his ’14 obligations.’ They are:

Create constancy of purpose towards product quality.

Adapt the new philosophy of higher quality, refusing to accept customary levels of defects and errors.

Stop depending on mass inspection, build quality into your product.

Don’t award business on the basis of price only – reduce the number of of suppliers and insist on meaningful measures of quality.

Develop programs for continuous improvement of your products and processes.

Train all your employees.

Focus supervision on helping employees to do a better job.

Drive out fear by encouraging two-way communication.

Break down barriers between departments and encourage problem solving through teamwork.

Don’t use posters and slogans that demand improvements without saying how to achieve them.

Eliminate arbitrary quotes and targets that interfere with quality.

Remove barriers that stop people having pride in their work.

Have programs for lifelong education, training and self-improvement.

Put everyone to work on implementing these 14 points.

Deming’s 14 points are not a program that has fixed duration, but the give a new way of thinking in your organization. They are certainly not the only possible view, but they do give some useful guidelines.